


Every Picture tells a Story

by butterscotchnotebook



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Blackwatch Era, Blackwatch Jesse McCree, Blackwatch Reaper | Gabriel Reyes, Gen, Minor Relationships, Moving Tattoo(s), No Plot/Plotless, Tattoos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-23
Updated: 2017-06-23
Packaged: 2018-11-18 02:03:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 603
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11281467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/butterscotchnotebook/pseuds/butterscotchnotebook
Summary: Jesse has an interesting story to tell.





	Every Picture tells a Story

**Author's Note:**

> A small story about Jesse and my love for tattoos.

                There's something interesting about Jesse's right arm as of late. He's started wearing long sleeves a lot more lately. He's showering later, which causes him to miss breakfast. This is what really gets Gabriel's attention; Jesse is _never_ late for breakfast.

"Did you see McCree's arm?"

"Looks like he hurt it."

"He's been wearing long sleeves lately..."

"I wonder what's going on?"

The other recruits whisper about his arm when they think no one is listening (they should know that they are probably being listened to 24/7, because in covert ops everyone can hide that they're listening to you). He makes a point to ask Jesse about it later.

That day during drill training, Gabriel notices how Jesse is using his left arm more heavily than his right. How he winces when someone pats his right-side shoulder.

He calls Jesse over to him, just before dinner, and says he wants to talk to him privately. The look on the kid's face is hysterical, and Gabriel starts to laugh, until another, angrier look from the kid convinces him to stop laughing. They walk together to his office, and that's where Gabriel asks him.

"What's going on with your arm?" Jesse's shocked reaction is something he did not expect to see. He looks nervous.  
"I'm afraid I don't know what you're on about, jefe," he answers without so much as a waiver in his voice. "It's just a little sore from the other day, that's all."

For someone in a covert ops oragnization, Jesse was a terrible liar. Gabriel knew something was up.

"Take off the shirt. Show me where you got hurt."

"Um, jefe, I don't think-"

"Just let me see."

Jesse hesitates.

"Fine, fine, just promise to keep this secret." He removes the shirt. On his arm is not bruises or bandages, but a fully finished tattoo sleeve, starting from the wrist and extending a little ways past the shoulder. The lower portion is a graden of dead and dying flowers, blackened and brittle-looking. A crow is flying upwards, carrying a flower in it's beak, towards a brighter garden, filled with flowers and plants of vibrant colors. It's beautiful, and leaves him partially speechless.

"It's symbolic. The dead flowers are Deadlock, no pun intended, the 'family' I thought was mine, at one point, until they threw me under the bus. The flower in the crow's mouth? That's me. The garden it's flying to is Blackwatch." Gabriel says nothing, still admiring the sleeve, so Jesse continues.

"I've found a better life here. Yeah, at first it was right garbage, being thrown under the bus like I was, but y'all have become a family to me. I found friends I never would have if you hadn't brought me under you, Reyes. Blackwatch is nothing short of family now."

Jesse looks Gabriel in the eye and sees he's tearing up, just a little, but decides not to point it out. The older man straightens up.

"You'd best get to dinner, McCree, or you'll be spending tonight hungry." Jesse sighs but nods in the affirmative, putting his shirt back on. Before he heads out, Gabriel gets his attention again.

"It's a beautiful sleeve, Jesse." His heart leaps in his throat. He thanks his commander before heading off to mess, his heart beating a million miles an hour.

Gabriel feels his heart break. Jesse's been through a lot, and to find that he's found someone to call family at all, much less him and his own, is moving.

He spends that night in his quarters wondering when it was he deserved to meet someone like Jesse McCree.

**Author's Note:**

> The sleeve is actually a tweak of the design I have for my own sleeve, when I find the funds to start it.  
> The original symbolism in my sleeve is that the lower garden is a healthy garden of flowers, representing my family (my mom and dad, sisters, brothers, and my late dog), and the flower in the crow's mouth is me. The upper garden is a new home, me finding my place in the world. Finding love, and maybe even having a family of my own.  
> It's supposed to be really meaningful. I think I got my point across with the symbolism but who knows.  
> Thanks for reading! Kudos are always appreciated.


End file.
